HARRISBURG--Harrisburg School Board members Monday night voted to begin the process to revoke the charter for the Premier Arts and Science school, located across the street from district headquarters.

The charter school is one of three currently operating in the Harrisburg School District.

A lawyer hired by the school district evaluated the progress and operations of the pre-K-8 school and noted test scores ranked the lowest in the city out of all schools, the school didn't comply with many mandates under state law and that the school may have overcharged the district.

The school at 500 N. 17th Street reported the average daily membership (ADM,) which measures attendance, at roughly 125 students in the 2014-15 school year to state officials. But the school reported 176 students to the school district, which would result in a larger payment from the school district.

A similar situation occurred in the 2016-17 school year when an "ADM" of 172 was reported to state officials through an online database, but the school billed the district for 212 students.

It's unclear how much the school may have overcharged the district. Officials were still working to determine the amounts.

The errors are magnified, however, because the lower numbers reported to state officials reduced the basic amount of money the school district received from the state and the lower numbers also served to inflate the rate that the district paid to all charter schools for tuition each year.

"Failure to properly report ADM from a fiscal management perspective is a gross error and one that frankly I've never seen before at this magnitude," said Allison Petersen, an attorney with the Levin Legal Group.

The school also failed to meet most, if not all, of the goals outlined in its 2013 charter school application, including a 98-percent attendance rate and 98-percent participation rate for state standardized tests.

The school also reported "false" data under the Office of Safe Schools, but corrected the report 11 months after the deadline. Still, the corrected report was incomplete because it indicated 53 incidents occurred but only two parent contacts. The updated report also did not include numbers of suspensions, expulsions or truancy.

Fire drills, bus evacuations, and checks for student physical exams, and staff clearance information was not conducted or collected, according to Petersen.

Staff members also did not understand programming differences and nuances of the state's special education law, which "may account for the significant rise in number of identified special education students" in 2017-18, which would generate more money for the school.

Petersen recommended that the board start proceedings to revoke the school's charter.

Several teachers and one grandparent spoke in support of the school, highlighting the small class sizes and family atmosphere.

Sylvia Rigal, who has three grandchildren enrolled at Premier, said her grandkids have been taught Spanish since kindergarten and are thriving. Rigal said shutting Premier down after a new school year has already begun would be terribly disruptive and unfair to the students and staff.

School board members should look past the low test scores, said Deb McMichael, a former Harrisburg School teacher who has worked at Premier for four years.

The school is "so much more than test scores," she said, adding that, "the school district's scores are low too."

Another employee pointed out that parents don't complain at Premier the way they do to the school district about their children getting bullied, lost in the shuffle or overlooked for important special services.

If the school has to close its doors this year, the 200 or so displaced students could transfer to their "home schools," said Jaime Foster, the district's chief academic officer, or apply to the Sylvan Heights charter (if it still has positions available) or a cyber charter.

School Board Member Brian Carter asked to postpone the vote so they could gather more information from Premier, but his motion seconded by Carrie Fowler was overruled by the majority of the school board.

The vote broke down along similar lines with the majority of Danielle Robinson, Ellis Roy, Lola Lawson, and Melvin Wilson voting to push forward with a vote on the school's future. Carter, Fowler and Board President Judd Pittman supported pausing the proceedings.

With Carter's motion out of the way, the board then approved starting the non-renewal process. The next step includes staging another hearing where Premier representatives can respond to the allegations, and introduce evidence and data to support their side. Board members will then vote a second and final time on whether to grant the school a new charter after the original one expired in June.

The decision against Premier angered Rigal, who stormed out of the board meeting saying her grandchildren speak two languages and students at the main high school "can't read, write or count," but the school board is moving to close Premier.

Carter offered words of encouragement to the Premier employees who attended the meeting. He said he had attended several of their events and seen their passion for teaching children.